For me, it will be All the Men with a special nod to Gatchinsky because I really don't know this guy.

I think it is Weir's favorite, Makarova, but I looking forward to see Zawadski as a Senior.

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The Men's competition looks very interesting. I hadn't considered Gatchinksy but thanks for mentioning the new Russian skater. I am interested in seeing him compete at SC.
Looking forward to Chan, Oda and Rippon in particular.

Since I am a fan of Ladies skating I will watch but can't make any predictions.
Hoping Fumie makes a good showing.

Some fans are in such a rush to have the older skaters retire - but I am glad Caro did not retire and I feel the same way about Alissa and Fumie. It would be nice if they can all retire on their own terms and thank God a few cranky fans have no say in this.

Same for Tomas and Joubert. I hope both those guys have some great skates left in them.

For me it will the Men (GO Adam) and Ice Dance, Love the Kerrs. Hi Joe nice to see you posting again.
Not to interested in the Ladies other than seeing how Fumie does (soft spot for her) and I
like Zawadski very much and hope she does well.

Most interesting? Definitely Fumie .... her coach to be precise.
I bet no one here in Japan knows who her coach is right now.
IMO probably no coach.
I am so curious how she will cope with her situation.

I'll have to think a bit more...but I know one thing I'm really excited about, and that's that David Pelletier will be joining PJ for commentary on Bold's coverage..I think he's often intelligent and insightful as a commentator. Yay !

1. Men
Will Chan land the quad? Will he somehow put the haters to rest with a performance everyone can love? Adam Rippon just beat the world champion at the Japan Open. Can he knock off the silver medalist on his home turf too? Will Oda start off strong like he always does, only to falter in the final laps? Will all the changes (personal and professional) help or hurt? Will Gachinski be the great Russian hope? Will Morosov emerge as the finest fine-tuner of young talent (Amodio did well at NHK. How about Fernandez?) Will Reynolds go for a two-quad short program? Paolo Bachini charmed at the Olympics - will he do the same here? Will Ten withstand two back-to-back competitions? What animal will Preaubert mime this year?

2. Dance
Weaver and Poje threw down a challenge with their two skates. Will Crone and Poirier rise to it? Can they beat the Kerrs'? Can the Kerrs' ever win a GP event (of course, these two are linked). The Shibutanis threw down a challenge at NHK. Can Chock and Zuerlein rise to it? Can Paul/Islam actually continue that astonishingly rapid growth (from World Juniors to Thornhill was actively remarkable). Will Carron and Jones gell on the circut better than she did with Jost. Can Gorshkova and Butikov deliver performances that make the Russian Federation sit up and take notice?

3. Pairs
Who the heck will win? Moore-Towers and Moscovitch had a sensational senior debut last season at Skate Canada. Can they build from that? They've got some technical tricks and they've got a go-for-broke style that will work with the audience. How about Duhamel and Radford? They're a new couple but are going for triple flips and triple lutzes in their programs. The three Canadian teams here are likely vying for that second spot at Worlds (the first one being inked to Dube/Davison, knock on wood). I love Kemp and King (so regal and handsome a couple) - can they grow here? Simpson and Miller are in the unfortunate space of being too young/old for worlds (she's to young for junior, he's too old for senior... actually, I mean that the other way around, but lets leave the mistake in for amusement), but they had a jawdroppingly beautiful and creative lift at last year's Lake Placid JGP. Will I have to learn how to spell Iliushechkina and Maisuradze's names (copy and paste is my friend)?

4. Ladies
In corner one, we have the headcases. They are sensationally beautiful skaters and when they're on, it's a wondrous thing to behold. Unfortunately, they're not often on. In the other corner, we have the uninspired. So hopefully all the skaters just go for broke. I'm curious about Zawadzki, hopeful about Meier, rooting for Phaneuf (though I think I'll shut my eyes during her long program. I won't actually enjoy it live), praying for Czisny (prove me right!!!!! I said you'd have a Paul Wylie year, and a Wylie year you shall have), glad to see Marchei and Lafuente on the GP circuit, and just keeping my fingers crossed.

For the most part, I'm really looking forward to the debut of Megan Duhamel and Eric Radford. Megan's from my neck of the woods and I've been watching her develop for years, so I really hope this partnership ends up being successful.

Pogue ! Thanks for organizing all the questions that have been swirling around in my brain..

SC is both weird and exciting in that it's a complete surprise package this year. At this moment ,I think I'm most curious about the dance..even with the withdrawals. there are a few more young promising teams , instead..but there still are a number if couples who could be involved in a shuffle of teams in the top 10 or 15..So looking forward to C/P and P/I..and very interested to see C/Z , after the Shibs' glowing debut at NHK

Now it's the next moment and I realize the men's field is pretty deep..and I'm interested in so many of them ...The ladies I do have some specific hopes for..that Cynthia and Alyssa both have good skates. The pairs ? I just feel...???

Castelli & Shnapir are perhaps going to includ their throw triple axel and side by side 3S in this competition. Since winning the bronze at junior worlds, they have been going through the difficulty of upgrading their tricks to senior level. Plus she had a severe injury since turning senior AFAIR. I'm hoping they will return as the charming team of their Survivor SP in juniors, but with better tricks.

Duhamel & Radford were talking about sbs triple flips and triple lutzes. (I have no idea about the correctness of this team's edges, but just thinking about it leads me to speculate, thinking about SBS flip and lutz in general: what do you get for a deduction for a double flutz? How about if one flutzes and one doesn't? Is that better? Or is it worse because the lack of unison? )

In fact, SC pairs could have some eye blinding technical tricks. Pairs has been quite static in that regard for some years, so I' hoping to see it.